For a closer look at the penthouse, launch the photo gallery »
List Price: $18,000
The Property: Sometimes, you really just feel like disappearing. When you get that feeling, one good place to do it might be at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive, a new luxury apartment building that because of its glassy skin, appears to disappear right into the sky.
While nobody can see you up in your 47th-floor penthouse apartment, you can see pretty much everything. The home looks out on a majestic sweep of the lake. On the day we shot the video, we could clearly see buildings on the Michigan shore, not to mention Indiana and the skyline of Chicago.
In this apartment, you’re surrounded by glass, bringing in all that view. You’re also surrounded by very nice finishes, including manufactured walnut floors and a stylish kitchen with two-tone white and dark ash cabinetry and quartzite countertops.
It’s a three-bedroom apartment. One looks toward the city and two look primarily out toward the lake. The master is one of those two, with a view east that includes Lake Point Tower and north up the lakefront.
Overlooking so much water from the master suite, it would be tempting to lounge in the big marble-wrapped bathtub and bask in the view. But it’s just as tempting to get outside. Because of the building’s location on Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville, there’s a lot of activity all around. There are restaurants; Ohio Street Beach, my favorite city beach, right across the road; and at this point the lakefront bike path is actually on Lake Shore Drive, right outside this building, and can carry you all the way north or south.
The lakefront path can get crowded, but what won’t get crowded is the elevator. This penthouse comes with a special fob that you use on the elevator to get a private express ride. When you get on the elevator, nobody from lower floors can join you. And if you come back from a bike ride or the beach and you’re muddy, there’s a nice suburban-style amenity in this penthouse: The full-sized laundry room works like a mudroom because there’s a separate entrance to it. No need to muddy up the foyer.
When you rent in a luxury building like this, it’s not just about the apartment you rent, but all the amenities the building offers. There’s a dog spa like the one that 500’s developer, Related, already had at one of its New York buildings, and an Equinox gym with a view out to Ohio Street Beach. (Related owns the Equinox chain.) On the social floor there are fireplace rooms, a library, a business center, a game room and a movie theater laid out in an informal way. Your guests don’t all sit in rows of chairs; it’s for more of a movie party experience. Then there’s an enormous deck with a lovely pool and an oversized hot tub on the east edge of the deck, looking out at Lake Michigan.
Every renter in the building has access to a personal assistant, Todd Stablein. On your behalf, he’ll get dinner reservations, meet the cable guy, find a petsitter, ship something to your mom, even book a helicopter. “I can make that happen,” he says.
With all that being taken care of, you can spend your time in the row of cabanas on the pool deck, where there are spaces for dining, lounging, and disappearing.
Price Points: All of this is yours for $18,000 a month. Or if you’re on a budget, the two-bedroom penthouse next door goes for $10,500. It’s finished to the same level of luxury. It’s smaller and has less of a lake view, but an expansive city view.
Leasing Agent: Joe Porritt, the building’s leasing manager, at 312-279-7181, or this e-mail contact form.